Letter: Say yes to Senior Housing Bylaw

Please support the Senior Housing Bylaw; it is a good start to the expansion of our property tax base and a good start towards bringing some harmony (and some revenue) back to our community.

To the editor:

In a pure utopia, Hamilton would retain its open land, have properly funded schools and be spared of the conflict between those that are financially challenged and those that are not. Unfortunately, this is not the case and once again, it is Town Meeting time and the town residents are at odds as overrides are once again being requested.

We cannot keep making cuts to the funding of our town and schools, nor can we keep asking residents that struggle financially or are on a fixed income, to pay higher property taxes. And, this impasse is not going away. The shortfall for 2008 is projected to be even higher - $2.1 Million.

The economics of Hamilton’s property tax base creates this disaccord and unless we, as a community, are committed to expanding the property tax base and thus the revenue generated, the disharmony in our town will continue.

While all Mass. communities are struggling to fund their municipal budgets, the struggle Hamilton faces is unique and more severe due to the following combination of factors affecting its property tax base:

1) Hamilton has a disproportionately large percentage of tax-exempt property as compared to other Towns (27 percent of Hamilton property is exempt from property tax).

2) Two of the tax-exempt properties (Pingree School and Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary) require significant allocation of Hamilton’s municipal funds for police, fire, public works and with regard to the Seminary, a significant allocation of our school budget,

4) Hamilton has no bylaw that encourages the growth of senior housing, which is a recognized source of net revenue.

With regard to (1) and (2), we are largely restricted in the action we can take. Tax-exempt properties are just that, tax-exempt. However, we can suggest and encourage our tax-exempt properties to make a “payment in lieu of taxes,” or PILOT, or for the entities that already do, request that they increase their PILOT. Currently the tax-exempt properties providing an annual PILOT are the town of Manchester, which in fiscal year 2006/2007 contributed $20,000, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which contributed $67,000 and The Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, which contributed $35,000. No PILOT is made by Pingree School.

Other towns and cities have been successful in obtaining significant PILOTs from tax-exempt entities. For instance, Brooks School makes an annual PILOT to the town of North Andover, which approximates $125,000, and from time to time, contributes a police cruiser or other needed equipment (and also allows the use of school fields and ice rink). Gordon College makes a PILOT to Wenham approximating the costs related to fire department calls ($25,000 in 2006/2007). The city of Newton and the city of Framingham have both enacted PILOT programs, a plan we should undertake as well.

While a successful PILOT program may help to address our financial crisis, it will not recover the property tax revenue lost due to our high percentage of tax-exempt property. For instance, while the seminary does make an annual PILOT of $35,000, this does not come close to defraying the related municipal costs. The seminary children attending our schools cost us an excess of $600,000 this school year (up from $560,000 in 2005/2006). Nor does the $35,000 annual PILOT offset the approximate $460,000, which would be received if the seminary property (valued at $38 Million) was subject to property tax.

With regard to (3) and the development of a commercial base, this also should be part of our long-term plan. Conversations have been occurring regarding the revitalization of the downtown area along the railroad tracks. There have also been ongoing conversations with respect to the development of the land by Chebacco Lake. As a community, we need to support this growth, but commercial development alone will not provide the needed tax base. Mullen Advertising, which is one of Wenham’s largest taxpayers, pays only $150,000 in property taxes. This means that Hamilton would need to allow for the development of 14 Mullen-size commercial properties to address our crisis, an undertaking that would not be legally or aesthetically acceptable.

With regard to item (4), the Senior Housing Bylaw, this is a proposal, which has been carefully drafted and reviewed, revised to address concerns and is the right kind of compromise we should be making as a community to increase property tax revenue. Nothing about the bylaw is drastic and it is in keeping with the careful planning that has kept Hamilton Hamilton.

Please support the Senior Housing Bylaw; it is a good start to the expansion of our property tax base and a good start towards bringing some harmony (and some revenue) back to our community.